Center wins grant to help prevent youth suicides

November 10, 2008

FORT WAYNE (AP) -- An institute at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne has received a $499,999 federal grant to expand and implement youth suicide prevention measures statewide, officials say. The Behavioral Health and Family Studies Institute will be eligible for funding at the same level over the next two years, with the three-year award totaling $1.5 million. The grant will allow the institute to increase the number of groups statewide that participate in suicide prevention, said Kathleen O'Connell, director of the institute and professor of nursing at IPFW. Among other efforts, the institute is expanding its network of people who can identify signs of at-risk youth. The group also contracts with an Indianapolis-based group that aims to reduce youth access to firearms. According to the 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 7.2 percent of Indiana teens tried suicide in the 12 months before being surveyed. That was down from 9.6 percent, according to the 2005 survey. Indiana was one of 18 states or tribes awarded suicide prevention grants from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. "These new grants will help states build on and strengthen established youth suicide prevention and early intervention strategies," said Eric Broderick, the federal agency's acting administrator.